Rail firms ‘picking pockets’ with 50% rise in car park charges

Virgin Trains leads the way with increases of between 25 and 50 per cent

Rail bosses were condemned today for raising station car parking charges by up to 50 per cent to offset January's small cut in rail fares.

They were accused of "picking the pockets" of captive passengers who have nowhere else to park.

Virgin Trains was highlighted by the TSSA, the rail industry's second largest union, as leading the way with increases of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent at stations along the West Coast Main Line between Euston and Glasgow.

Annual parking charges have shot up from £655 to £980, a 50 per cent increase.

Virgin said the rises were justified and that tens of millions of pounds have been spent increasing the number of spaces with better lighting and CCTV to improve security.

First Great Western, which runs services from the west into Paddington, is increasing station parking charges by up to 30 per cent. An annual parking ticket at Reading is going up from £1,265 to £1,644.

Other train operators are also planning increases.

Gerry Doherty, TSSA general secretary, launched the attack on the rail companies the day before the transport debate at the TUC in Liverpool. He said: "It is outrageous that passengers have to pay huge increases in car parking fees just so the rail companies can offset the tiny 0.4 per cent cut in regulated fares that they will be forced to make in January.

"Passengers are paying now for the tiny benefit they will get in the new year. This is in effect a back door fares increase which is not covered by the regulated fares formula.

"The rail companies are picking the pockets of millions of passengers."

A TSSA survey in May revealed that the private rail companies make more than £100 million a year from car parking charges.